Memories of the Mask
by Hanayuhana
Summary: One devastating night changed Chizuru's life and destiny. All because of a man wearing a mask. It's been years since that night, but the man still haunts her to this very day. Even though she has her best friends Kakashi and Obito.., her teacher, Minato.. by her side through it all, their support and love still wasn't enough and slowly, they left her side. Kakashi x OC
1. The Ending

Please no hate comments/reviews ! I know what I'm doing with this story so please just wait. It's a bit discouraging if I'm always criticize. Thanks !

* * *

**The Ending**

* * *

The smell of explosive powder and blood filled my nostrils as I lay in the hands of my comrade who is telling me to stay awake. All I can hear are the cries of the fallen one. Is this it? Am I really going to die here in this disgusting battle field? As I try to keep my eyes open, my eye lids get extremely heavy.

**"Don't close your eyes !"** My comrade says as he shakes me by the shoulders. His face was stained with blood, dirt and sweat. I don't think I've met him personally before, but I know he's my junior. Hotaro, I think his name is.** "Stay awake ! You mustn't give in !"**

I put my hand over the wound on my stomach and take in a deep breath. I don't want to die just yet.

**"Help is on the way, please stay awake."** My comrade interrupts my thoughts again. Help? I forced myself to look at him and he nods. **"We're going to be alright. You're going to be alright !"**

Am I really? Following the pattern of his breathing, I try to breathe as well. As I lay in his arms, the sound of explosives hitting the ground can be heard a few meters by us. When the explosives made contact, the ground shook hard. With that, my comrade moves me further back to home base, hoping that our remaining comrades can cover us. I clutch my wound hard, trying to keep more of my blood from spilling, but as seconds go by, the weaker my grip became.

From what my comrades are telling me, back up are coming in just a few minutes. In my state, minutes seemed like hours. Hotaro puts me on my side to see our back up coming up the hill. Seeing them brought me a sense of relief, but my eyes slowly closed.

**"Senpai ! See, they're here !"** Hotaro said with gladness in his voice, but since I'm too weak to move at all, I couldn't answer him. **"S-Senpai?"** His voice shakes. **"SENPAI !"**

I don't feel anything.. I can hear him, but I don't feel any pain. Am I entering death? Or am I already dead?

**Badump. Badump.**

No, my heart is still beating.

**"Chizuru !"**

I hear my name being called.

**"Chizuru !"**

The voice repeats again, over the sound of everyone fighting. To my surprise, I'm not dead. My eyes flutter open to see Hotaro's face close to mine, eyes wet from tears.

**"Senpai?**" He says in a whisper.

I turn my gaze over to the hill. Four people are already running towards us with the rest of the back up coming up the hill.

**"Chizuru !**"

My name gets called again. I look closely to see someone sprinting towards us.

**"Chizuru !"**

The person repeats again. My eyes begin to close and this time, all the noise and sounds were blocked out. I'm finally dead, right? My death didn't last long when my eyes open again. This time, to see someone with silver hair and one haunting red eye.

* * *

**A/N:** Tbh, I'm not sure if I should continue with this since I only thought of this story while doing homework. I have the next chapter in mind, but I'm not sure if I should start .. since this is only a draft. How is it?

**Comment & Share**


	2. That Fateful Night

**A/N:** Just to tell you guys that this is a flashback/present story !

* * *

**That Fateful Night**

* * *

_Today_,_ Fall has finally came. Up since early morning, I've been out with the kids in my village, playing the current popular game, "Ninja". As we each challenge each other, one on one, I come out as the victor. Soon, after our game of 'Ninja', we begin to play tag. We ran around the village laughing and screaming. All we wore was thin clothing and nothing else. The faster we ran, the harder the cold air hit us._

"_**I'm going to go home now !"** One boy shouts to me as he passes by his house. _

"_**Bye!"** I shouted back with the rest of the kids waving. _

_Time slips us by. As we run around the village once more, everyone began to go home. The sun went down as I was the only one in the dark, slowly walking home. I exhaled and watched my hot breath mix in with the cold. Maybe I should of went home sooner.. I make a right turn and walked with my eyes on the ground._

"_**Chizuru.." **My mother's voice comes from the end of the street. I looked up and smiled. I sprinted up to her and hugged her waist tightly._

"_**I'm here, mother !"** I told her as I released her. She brushes my bangs away, wiped my runny nose with her sleeve and smiled warmly. Her smile always gave off a kind and warm feeling. Her eyes were also always filled with love. She takes off her sweater and puts it over my head._

"_**You should of worn something warmer ! What will I do if you catch a cold?"** She says as she takes my hand and led my down the street. _

"_**Well, we were playing ninja.. It's hard running with thick clothing." **_

"_**It's better than getting sick, my dear."**_

"_**I know, but today ! I came out as the best ninja!" **I smiled brightly and squeezed her hand. She laughs a bit and squeezed back. We reach our small house where father was waiting at home in the living room._

"_**Chi, who won today's Ninja game?" **He asks me as I walk up to hug him._

"_**Me!"** I said proudly and released him._

"_**That's my girl !" **He high fives me and ruffles my hair._

"_**Chizuru, go wash up. I'm going to get your dinner." **Mother says with my clothes and towel in hand. I nod and walked up to her to got the clothes and towel from her. I quickly went inside the bathroom and removed my dirty clothes and hung mother's sweater on a hook before slipping inside the tub. The hot water sure feels good. As I cleansed myself, from inside, I can hear father and mother talking about me._

"_**Our daughter sure has grown up fast." Mother says with a sigh.**_

"_**Nearly eight in a couple days. It seems like it was just yesterday when we held Chi as a baby."**Father chuckles which soon turns into a laugh._

_I spend a couple more minutes in the tub before getting out to have dinner. Once I went into the living room, my dinner was already set out on the little table we have in the middle of the room. A plate of pan-fried fish fillet's topped with chopped garlic on top on the left side of the table, a bowl of hot soup just beside it, a bowl of cooked vegetables in the middle, a plate of dumplings on the right and in the middle, closest to the side, there was my small bowl of rice with my pair of chopstick and spoon on the table. Everything on that table was still hot and the aroma was absolutely delicious. Even though this meal is what we usually eat on a daily basis, my mouth still waters._

_That night, before bed, father and I sat by our fireplace telling each other jokes and things we did this morning. Every cold night father would make a fire in the fireplace and invite me to sit with him. It's a thing of ours. Tonight, after the usual jokes, father pulls out two things from the shelf above the fire place. He brought it down and placed in it front of me before sitting down next to me._

_In front of me, was two old worn out sketch book and scrap book. The sketchbook was dark red and had the word 'Memories' written on the front cover in a gold and cursive font. It's not father's writing. I looked over the the scrap book to see a picture of father and mother during their younger years in the middle of the cover. Above the photo the title of the scrapbook was 'The Past'. Funny names the books are called._

"_**Father, what are you going to show me?"** I ask as I crawled onto his lap. He holds the sketchbook in front of me and flipped to the first page. The first page had charcoal drawings of a village with large wooden gates and high walls. On the doors had letters I wasn't familiar of and above, there was a symbol I've never seen before. It looks like a leaf. Far back, there were four headstones. _

"_**These are pictures of the places I've been when I was a young man."** Father says as he points to the picture. I nod and flipped to the next page. The next picture was a pencil drawing of a large oddly shaped stone, surrounded by trees._

"_**This?"**_

"_**This is a memorial stone."**_

"_**What's it for?"**_

"_**To remember the heroes who lost their life."**_

_I flip the page again to see a lightly painted picture of twenty ninjas all standing side by side with smiles on their faces._

"_**These are?"** I pointed to the unfamiliar faces that stood around father._

"_**My comrades."**_

_I nod again and flipped to the next page. The next page was a roughly sketched image of a tanto (small sword) at the corner of the page, it said, "White Fang." I pointed to it and father traces the outlines with his finger._

"_**My friend drew this."** He sighs. Before I could flip to the next page, he stops me. _

"_**What's wrong, father?" **_

"_**You can see the rest of the sketchbook when you're old enough."**_

_Like the obedient child I am, I leaned back into his chest and closed the book in my hands. I hand the book back to him and he reaches over to get the scrapbook. He flips to the first page and to my surprise, the picture is exactly the same as the drawing in the sketchbook. The trees that surrounded the village was in beautiful shades of green, the sky was bright blue, the visible buildings were in different varies of color, and the four headstones were detailed nicely._

"_**Father, what kind of a village is that? Where is it? What's it called?"**_

"_**It's a beautiful village, Chizuru. One day, we will live there. It is called, Konoha."**_

_Before I could ask anymore questions, mother comes into the living room._

"_**It's time for bed, you two."** She says as she comes closer to us. _

"_**But mother, we haven't finish looking at the photographs."**_

"_**Yes dear, let us finish first."**_

_Mother bends down and took the scrapbook from father's hands. She shakes her head and shuts the book._

"_**You are still clinging onto the past, Kenji."** Mother says as she puts away the two books. **"She's too young to comprehend what you're saying."**_

"_**Now, now, Hisana it's better to tell her early than later."**_

"_**Continue tomorrow night. Look at her, she's tired." **Mother waves to me. Watching them bicker did make me a bit sleepy. I tugged on father's shirt and he smiles._

"_**Alright, off to bed with you." **He says as he wraps his arms around me. He carries me to my room and lays me down. **"We'll continue this tomorrow night."** With a kiss on my forehead, he leaves me be._

"_**Goodnight, father, mother."** I whisper as I drifted off to sleep._

* * *

"_**KENJI ! GET CHIZURU !"** Mother screams loudly, waking me up. I groggily get up and off my bed._

"_**Mother?"** I call for her, but she doesn't answer. **"Father?" ** Suddenly, thick smoke comes from the end of my room. Crackling sounds of fire comes from the same direction. Before I could think of an explanation of the sound and smoke, father bursts through the door, eyes filled with alarm._

"_**CHIZURU !" **He shouts loudly and runs in. He gets me in his arms and takes me out. As we got out, more smoke appeared. Fire._

"_**Father ! What's happening?!"** I cry and he hugs me tighter. He sets me on the ground and hands me a bag. _

"_**Enemy invasion. No matter what happens, keep these safe! Everything in here will explain everything." **He instructs me. What does he mean? Is he not coming? _

"_**F-Father.. I don't understand."** I stutter, hands gripping tightly onto the bag he's given me. He takes my hand and drags me out of the burning house. **"Where's mother!?"** I looked around, dark heavy smoke, burning houses, bodies laying everywhere and blood stains everywhere. Soon, the cries of enemies got closer. Father turns me back to face him. He crouches down to my height and hugs me tightly again._

"_**Remember."** He whispers in my ear. The tone of his voice made my throat burn. My eyes soon where filled with tears that kept overflowing, running down my cheeks. Mother comes, blood stained on her clothes and she joins the hug. _

"_**Remember."** She whispers in my other ear._

"_**You are our one and only beautiful daughter. One day, you'll be the best kunoichi the whole shinobi world has ever seen. I'm sure of it."** Mother says painfully, making it hard for me to breath._

"_**Why are you talking like I'll never see you two again."** I choke up and held onto them with all the strength I had left in my shaken body._

"_**Remember, you are a Taizuya. The Taizuya who fought along side thousands of heroes. Don't tell strangers your identity unless they ****look like the people in the pictures I've shown you. They will give you protection and a home. Grow up to be healthy and strong, alright?"** He says and softly wipes my tears away._

"_**Father.."** I swallowed hard as more tears fell. The enemies were getting closer. He lets go of me and lets mother talk to me. She opens my balled up fist and places a pendant in it._

"_**My beautiful daughter." **She cries and kisses me. Horrid cries of our neighbors mixed in with the violent crackling sound of the fires. Everything soon happens in a blur. I was given into the hands of a stranger who was apparently one of the people in father's photo. The stranger drags me by the arm, forcing me along, but I didn't want to part from my parents so pulled back as we walked. I looked back to father and mother and the two wore headbands that had the same symbol as the symbol of on the gates of Konoha. The two gave me a smile with tears in their eyes._

"_**MOTHER ! FATHER !" **I scream, stopping in my tracks, but the stranger kept yanking me._

"_**We must go now."** The stranger says, roughly picking me up, holding me in his arms._

"_**STOP ! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?!"** I shout as I try to break free from his grasp. I turn back to my parents once more, this time, to see enemy close in on them. In a matter of seconds, they both fall to the ground._

"_**MOTHER ! FATHER!"** I screamed again as they laid lifeless on the ground. The enemy, eyes burned red, had a katana raised above look in the man's eyes was demonic. Even though his face was covered up half with a mask, I could pick out the scars on his face. The sound of his wicked laugh made my body tense up. I kicked and scream some more, but the stranger held me down and kept running._

_More and more tears ran down my cheeks as the man that killed my parents walked away from their bodies with the rest of his men._

"_**FATHER !" **_

"_**HES GONE." **The stranger shouts, but I don't listen._

"_**FATHER!" **I repeated and finally, father's head lifted from the ground._

"_**Chizuru."** I see him mouth my name.** "Chizuru.."**_


	3. The Four Pages

**The Four Pages**

* * *

"_**Chizuru.."**_

"**CHIZURU!"**

A loud stern voice calls for me. I open my eyes to see the sun shining down on me, slightly blurring my vision. Once my vision became clear, I found myself staring at the ground. I've been in this moving carriage for so long. When will I be able to get out?

"**Taizuya, Chizuru." **

The same voice says to me. I lift my head and stared at the man. Tall, big build and tanned skin, wearing the average shinobi uniform. He was walking beside the carriage window, eyes looking directly at me. I look at him, but I don't respond.

"**We will be arriving at Konoha, please prepare yourself."** He says and quickens his pace to go back to the front of the carriage.

I looked out at the scenery. It's been a week since mother and father died. The stranger is not from the picture in father's sketchbook, but one of the sons of father's friends in the picture. His name is Ryu. Takahara, Ryuji. His father was the one who stood on father's left in the picture. During Ryu's short introduction of himself, he revealed that his father died last Spring. Saying that he "knows" how I feel and what I'm going through. Despite his charming good looks, short black hair and big eyes, he's a very strict person. Even though he looks like he's in his late teens. His personality is what I find the most unpleasant. When he talks, it sounds like he is giving out orders.

From my seat, I turn back into the carriage and faced my bag that was on the other side of the wall. In that very bag, father has left me his scrapbook, sketchbook, his old headband, a tanto, similar to the one his friend drew and our family's savings. In both books, I've only read two pages after the pages he and I read on the night he died. I couldn't bring myself to read more. I just have to keep his promise and read them when I'm a bit older.

Tomorrow is my birthday. My eighth birthday. I remember on my birthday, mother would cook all my favorite food and after dinner she would make my favourite deserts. On the nights of my birthday, father would take me to the river and watch the stars with me and tell me stories of his past adventures. I get up from my seat and walked over to my bag and pulled out the scrapbook.

"**If only you two were here now."** I whisper as I lightly swipe my fingers of the picture of father and mother. My eyes stung with tears, but I didn't bother to hold them back. Let it be the last that I'll cry. I don't want to cry any more. Since their deaths, nothing makes sense to me any more Why didn't they let me stay by their sides? Why won't they let me die with them? Why did they send me away? All I know that I'm being moved to Konoha where I'm suppose to start a new life.. but how? My eyes blurred with more tears. I clutch they edges of the scrapbook, hard until my knuckles turn white.

After a couple more seconds of crying, I sucked up my tears and calmed myself. I roughly wiped my tears away and brought the bag along with the scrap book back to my previous seat by the window. I stick my head out the window to see Ryu walking in front with his back facing me. Come to think of it, I haven't spoken one word to Ryu since that night. I can't bring myself to speak at all. On the outside, I'm like a motionless doll, but on the inside, I'm waging a war against myself. It's frustrating. What am I suppose to do?

Another tear rolls down my cheek as I let out another sigh. I opened the scrapbook again and flipped to the two pages I've read the previous nights. The first page was a two letters. One addressed to a man named Jiraiya and the other, Kenji – father. The first letter from father read:

"_** My dear friend,**_

_** Jiraiya.**_

_**How are you ? I am doing well. Where in the world are you now? Still traveling? Don't stray too far from home, now. About your book, it still hasn't been officially published yet, right? What is the book's name? I hope to one day meet up with you again and read a copy. **_

_**My beautiful daughter, Chizuru is growing up well. She's going to be eight in a month. Will you come and visit to celebrate her birthday with us? It would mean a lot for her to study under you. She dreams to become a kunoichi one day despite Hisana's disapproval. I've heard from the village kids that Chizuru is always the winner of all their games. From my observations, Chizuru has amazing speed and a quick mind. I hope that you'll be able to teach and train her by the day I move my family to Konoha.**_

_** Best regards,**_

_** Kenji. "**_

These letters... are just weeks from each other. They were written last month.. Father must have wrote this letter late at night. The next letter is the reply to father's letter from Jiraiya.

"_** My dear friend,**_

_** Kenji.**_

_**I'm doing well, still traveling here and there. I'm currently in Konoha, gathering some ideas for my next novel. My first book won't be published until next month or so. It will be called 'The Tale of a Gutsy Shinobi.' I think the book will suit you greatly. You should move to Konoha now ! What's holding you back?**_

_**It's a good thing to hear that Chi is growing up well. I'd love to be her teacher and celebrate her birthday, but sadly, I might be going out of the country during that week. Don't worry, I'll try to stop by and see her. And for Hisana, just sweet talk the woman, she'll come around. She's an amazing kunoichi. She should know that it'll be in Chi's blood.**_

_**Well this is it, my friend. I'll be off doing a minor mission for the old man. I hope to see you soon. Let's have a drink once I see you.**_

_** Sincerely, **_

_** Jiraiya. "**_

Who is this Jiraiya person? He's suppose to be my teacher? He must of been one of father's close friends. I wonder if Jiraiya has seen the outcome of my village. How would he feel to see everything burned down? I know I wouldn't be able to take it.

The next page was a photo of a tall man with blonde spiky hair. He wore the standard shinobi attire, but he was wearing a white cloak that had red fire looking designs on the bottom. He had a big smile on his face. His smile looked genuine. In his right hand, he had an oddly shaped red and white hat with the word "Fire" written on the middle of it. Who is this man? I took the picture off the page and flipped it around.

"_**Namikaze, Minato."**_ I mouthed the words that was written on the back of the photo. It's a recent picture. The date written on the picture was two weeks ago. I feel like I've seen this man before. I stare at the photo for a couple of seconds before placing the scrapbook beside me and pulling out the sketchbook. I flipped to the page where father posed with his comrades to see the blonde hair man there. He was crouching down in front of father.

I flipped to the next, next page to see a drawing of a man. The man had long spiky hair tied into a pony tail, the same headband as father, the standard shinobi outfit with a white and red sleeve on his left arm and bandages around his right arm. _"Sakumo."_ The bottom corner of the page said. Beside it, it says "Dearly missed." What does that mean? This man is dead? He's one of father's comrades. He posed on father's right. .. Anyway, it's a portrait of the man smiling with a baby in is arms. Who could that be? Me?

I flip to the next page to see a coloured pencil drawing of a sakura. It's beautiful.

Suddenly, my vision blurs up again because of my tears. My throat starts to burn, making it hard for me to breathe. I slam the book shut and shoved the two books back in my bag. I really need to stop crying. I'm sick of it. I toss my bag aside and laid down. I closed my eyes and went to sleep.


	4. The Meeting

**The Meeting**

* * *

Soon, I was woken up to the sound of Ryu's voice, but my eyes stay closed. The carriage has stopped moving.

"**Chizuru." **He says and shakes me lightly on my shoulder. I slowly open my eyes and to my surprise, my nap which seemed like a couple minutes was actually hours. The sun already went down. I turn my gaze to Ryu and sat up straight.** "We will be camping out tonight. Come out for dinner." **

With that, he exists the carriage. I reluctantly follow him out to see everyone has already settled themselves down. A fire was made to make dinner and everyone, but me was pitching in to help. Ryu and I didn't travel alone. On the night of mother and father's death, Ryu was with a team. Half of his team was split up during that night. The other half is traveling behind us. We're waiting for them to catch up.

With my bag in hand, I walk over to the fire and sat down. Even though the fire brought unwanted memories of mine, it was my only source of heat. No one has given me anything to wear. I'm still wearing the clothes I wore to sleep that night. I brought my knees to my chest and hugged them while staring at the fire. Ryu comes by and hands me a bowl of food before running off to discuss the routing plan with his other team mates. Tonight's dinner is stew. How lovely. Not. It looks absolutely unappetizing, but it's still edible in some ways.

As I slowly take spoonfuls of the stew, cheering, hooting and laughing can be heard coming from behind me. I turn my head to see a group of men wearing the same exact headbands that Ryu wore, walking towards us. They must be the other half of the so called rescue team. The group came closer to the point I can make out the two people leading in front. A short boy with silver hair was walking side by side with a man with blonde hair. The boy ran off into the carriage while the rest, but the blonde haired man went to socialize. The blonde haired man just kept walking towards me.

I placed my bowl down and stared as he got closer. T-T-This man.. He's the man in the picture. I scooted back as the man crouched down in front of me.

"**Taizuya,Chizuru?"** He extends his hand. **"I'm Namikaze, Minato."** He smiles.

"**Y-You."** I mouthed, but my voice still didn't come out. He looks at me with slight confusion on his face, but ends up sighing and dropping his hand.

"**Your.. father.. Kenji-san.. He was a great man. I learned many things from him."** He tries to put his hand on my knee, but I moved away. He gives me a sad smile and folded his hands.

As if coming to my rescue, Ryu appears and places his hand on the man's shoulder.

"**She hasn't spoken a word since I rescued her."** He says with his eyes on me. The blonde haired man gives Ryu a look before turning his eyes back to me. In his eyes was sadness and sympathy. I hate the looks in his eyes. I've been getting the same look ever since I left my village from these people. 'Rescue?' What rescue. I shot the two a glare and sprinted back to the carriage with my bag clutched under my arm. What kind of a rescue is this if I don't see anyone from my village?!

I slammed the carriage doors open and upon walking into the carriage, I see the same boy, shirtless, with his back towards me. I stumble backwards and looked down. I let him have a few seconds to put on his shirt before looking up.

"**Ever heard of knocking?"** He scoffs and fixes his sleeves.

Seeing his face, a rush of fear goes through me. He was wearing a mask that covered up half of his face and his eyes looked so cold. A short image of mother and father's killer came into my mind. In shock, I dropped my bag and turned to run for it.

"**H-Hey !" **The boy calls out to me, but I don't look back. I ran through the doors and shoved pass Ryu and the blonde haired man. I hear them call after me, but I still didn't look back. I don't know where my legs are taking me, but I just know they're pumping faster and faster by second.

Finally, I took a break to catch my breath and to my realization, I have strayed very far from the campsite. I sat down by a tree and leaned against it with my knees up to my chest. I-It's so cold. Maybe I can just die out here and not go to Konoha.

Suddenly, I feel something drape over my shoulder and head. It's a blanket. I looked up to see it was the blonde haired man. He crouches down and faces me. I try to move away, but the tree I was leaning against kept me from moving back. He reaches out to me and pulls me into his chest. One hand on my head, the other on my back. Even though I struggled to break free, he just kept holding me.

"**I'm sorry. I'm sorry we didn't get there fast enough. Chizuru, I'm very very sorry."** He began while hugging me tight. The heat from his breath went down my neck, making me shiver a bit. I stopped moving and relaxed, letting him finish whatever he's trying to say.**"Your father was an amazing shinobi. He was kind and a loyal man. Every mission, he would put his comrades and juniors before himself. He was a hero. Just like father and daughter, I know you will be an amazing kunoichi. You have a gift, Chizuru." **He continues, still holding tight. What gift? He only met me today. What gift can he see from me? **"I know everything about you. I know who you are. I will protect you now. You won't have to go through that again." **Know who I am? How can you know who I am when I don't even know myself..

The tears I've been trying to hold back starts to over flow. One drop. Two drop. Three drop. Many more fell onto his shoulders, but he didn't move one bit. As I kept crying, he just held me and rubbed my back. Slowly, my eyes soon dry up and became heavy.


	5. Family

**Family**

* * *

The next morning, I awoke to the sound of footsteps. My eyes open slightly to see a figure standing in the shadows by the door of the carriage. The only light that was in the carriage was the sunlight shining from the crack in the closed window. I shot up and pressed my back against the wall, watching the figure closely. The figure takes a step towards me and walks into the sunlight.

"**Goodmorning, Chizuru !"** The blonde haired man smiled. Seeing him there made me relax my tensed muscles. **"Kakashi said you dropped this on your way out last night." **He said as he held out my bag. Kakashi? The silver haired boy? I reached out and took the bag from him and checked if anything was missing before placing it down. I looked back up at the man and he was still smiling. **"Happy Birthday, Chi." **He whispers. Chi.. Chi.. I blink back my tears as the memory of father saying that nickname came to mind. I nod and the man takes something off his neck. With one hand, he blocks my vision, the other, he fussed with my hair and neck. Soon, something cold drops near my collar bone. It's a pendant. It's a violet coloured crystal hanging by a black necklace. It's beautiful. Compared to mother's necklace, mother's pendant was a red shaped tear drop, hanging by a silver necklace and the length of the necklace was longer than the one this man gave me. I held his pendant I n my right hand and rolled the crystal back and forth between my thumb and fore finger. The man leans in and presses his forehead against my hair. **"I hope you like it."** He whispers and with a tousle of my hair, he left.

_Badump. Badump._ My heart beats faster. How could he know.. today's my birthday?

"_**I know everything about you."**_ His voice rings in my ears. Wait, I wasn't dreaming last night? He was really there? I held my head in my hands and sighed. Can someone just kill me now?

Soon, I hear a knock behind me.

"**Hey, you."** A voice says and I turn around. I open the windows beside me and to my surprise, it's the boy. Kakashi, was it? Without speaking any further, he places some food on the ledge and walks away.** "Happy Birthday."** He says as he walks off. He was listening?

I stared at the food, still steaming hot. Should I eat? Or should I just starve myself? As I stir the bowl of soup with my spoon, my mind unconsciously think back to mother and fathers' killer. His demonic face, the pleasure in his laugh. All which surrounded him was fire. Violent, crackling fire. Out of no where, my hands begin to shake hard. I balled up my fist and stopped my shaking. His laugh.. It's like it was taunting me. Taunting me to go look for him. I let out another sigh and looked up at the blue sky. What am I doing here? Why am I still alive. And suddenly, the thought hit me. I'm an avenger.

I shake off the sudden thought and brought myself to eat. Avenger.. I shake my head again and finished what was left of my food. I wrapped the blanket around me and went outside. The weather is still a bit chilly, but better than last night. I walked over to the water supply and washed my face. Once I was done, someone hands me a towel. It was Kakashi. I freeze and stared at him, trying to erase the image of my parent's killer from my mind. I know I shouldn't be scared of this boy because of the killer, but as I tried to clear my mind, I just couldn't. It's just the mask the two wear.

I think my fear seeped through and the boy senses it. He steps back, but his hand is still out with the towel. I hesitantly take the towel from him and dried my face. This boy, he looks about my age.. maybe older.

"**I.. uh.. just wanted to apologize for scaring you last night. I didn't know I scared you until Minato sensei told me." **The boy says. **"I'm Hatake, Kakashi." **

Once again, my voice fails me so I just nod and give him smile, but my muscles wouldn't raise all the way. So instead, the smile I gave him looks like a tight straight line. I secretly look the boy up and down. How can he fight amongst these people? He's still a child.

As if my staring became to obvious, he clears his throat. **"I'm going to go now."** He says and walks away. The look in his eyes.. reminds me of my own. I glance down at the bucket of water and looked at my reflection. Dead. Like no life was in them. I slap my reflection, causing the water to splash. Dead. I roughly wash my face again and went back to the carriage once I was done. As I walked back, Ryu stood in my way, stopping me.

"**The .." **Ryu pauses and looks around.**"I mean Minato told me to give these to you."** He finishes, clearing his throat at the end of his sentence and hands me the clothes. I take the clothes and continued my way back to the carriage.

I locked the door and closed the window before changing. The shirt I thought, turns out to be a sweater and the pants I thought turns out to be shorts. I took off my tattered shirt and pulled the sweater over my head. I examined the fabric and the design. This sweater.. It's what Ryu and the blonde haired man.. Minato.. is wearing. I rolled up the sleeves and put on the shorts. The shorts on the other hand, was tight and only went to my knees. At least the clothes I have now are somewhat warm and comfortable. Overall, I like the outfit despite the fact that the sweater looks like a dress on me. The length is half my thighs. Even so, it brought warmth to my body.

A knock came from the door and I opened it. There stood Minato. With a smile, he walked in. He took my hand and spins me around.

"**You look great ! I'm so glad I had an extra sweater with me, but only if it was a bit smaller.. Kushina told me to bring you some clothes, but I guess I ended up only bringing her shorts."** He laughs. I furrowed my eyebrows as I thought of who Kushina could be. I think back to the scrapbook and sketchbooks, but I don't think I remember seeing a woman.. "**Ah, Kushina is my wife."** He laughs again. Wife? I nod and looked down, picking at my fingers. It was a habit.

He lets out a sigh and suddenly, he lifts me off the ground and puts me on my 'bed'. He kneels down in front of me and fixes my sleeves by folding them up.

"**Chizuru. You don't have to be afraid any more. I'll be here for you. Kakashi is here for you. Ryu is here for you. Everyone here will be here for you. We will protect you. We might be strangers to you now, but once we arrive in Konoha, we're all family." **He smiles and brushes my bangs with his fingertips. Family.. Really? I let out a sigh as my eyes begin to water, but I manage to keep the tears in. I nod and he places his hand on my head. **"We will be there soon. Don't worry."** With that, he left.

Will we really be family? He won't leave me? Could he be telling the truth? I rubbed my eyes and looked out the window. Not soon after, the carriage began moving and once again, I'm trapped inside until the next stop. Which in this case, the last stop is the village. I stayed in my seat and place my arms on the ledge and my head on top of them. Is Konoha really that great like everyone says? As the hours goes by, Minato, Kakashi or Ryu would come back and check on me. Soon, I was told to get out of the carriage. When I got out, the carriage that I was once in, started to go back.

"**Over this bridge, is the village entrance."** Minato tells me as he takes my hand. The two of us cross the bridge with the rest following. After a couple minutes of walking, the two very gates that was in the books, appeared through the trees. Konoha.


	6. Weapon

**Weapon**

* * *

Minato led me again by the hand and we walked through the gate doors. He lightly greets the two gate guards and continues to walk me through the village. As we walked around, he briefly explained that I needed to see a man called the Hokage and his advisers We continued to walk through the village and as I look around, it was just Minato and I. The rest of the team wasn't behind us. Many of the villages stopped and stares at us or they would walk up to us and greet Minato, but before they could reach him, he would smile and wave them off. Also, some villagers would avoid the two of us and whisper and point. I don't understand why though.

Finally, we arrive at the place he called the Hokage residence. He walks me into the building and through the empty halls. We get to a close door and without knocking, he opens them. There in the fairly big room was four old people. Taking my hand again, Minato walks me in. He does a slight bow as the faces the four which I did the same, but more like a nod. He introduces me to the Hokage which was the man that had a pipe in his mouth. Then, he introduced me to the advisers or elders. The man with green glasses was Mitokado, Homura and the short old lady was Utatane, Koharu. The last man Minato introduced me to was a scary looking man with scars and bandages all over him and held a cane. Shimura, Danzo is his name.

"**This skinny little thing is supposed to be a Taizuya?" **The old lady says as she pulls me away from Minato's side. She examines me, but I quickly went back to Minato's side and hid behind him.

"**Taizuya clan. One of the famed healers of the shinobi world. Mysterious yet powerful."** The Hokage said with a smile on his face as he walks around his desk.

"**It's a good thing you brought her back, Minato. She will be a powerful asset to the village. Has she awakened her powers ?" **The scary looking man asks as he takes a step towards me. Powers.. what powers? Why are they talking as if I'm not here? The man holds out his cane and places it under my chin. He lifts my head and smirks.

"**I didn't bring her back so she can be the village's weapon." **Minato comes to my defence and moves me away from the man.

"**Stop lying to the girl. She's here to be a weapon."**

"**I..I'm not lying. She's here to be a part of the village."**

What.. weapon.. are they speaking of.. What do they mean? I nervously look up at Minato and he gently touches my cheek.

Suddenly, the door opens. There stood a lady with red vibrant, but beautiful hair.

"**Kushina !"** Minato gleams with a bright face. That must be his wife. She's very pretty. No wonder..

"**Yes, I agree. She is not to be used as the village's weapon." **Kushina says as she caresses my cheek. Her gentle eyes soon turned into death glares as she looks at the scary man.

"**I agree with Danzo. What is she doing here if she's not meant to be used? As the Fourth Hokage, Minato. I think you should reconsider." **The old lady said as she stepped forward. Minato.. The Fourth Hokage.. He's using me? Is that why.. he rescued me? This can't be.. My mouth goes dry as I think back to the times how Minato has treated me. Don't tell me the kindness everyone has shown me.. is fake.

"**Is she the only survivor?" **The Hokage speaks up. Upon hearing his question, I quickly turned my attention towards Minato with eagerness on my face. He looks down at me, but with a pained look on his face.

"**Y-.."**He whispers. **"Yes." **He says firmly. Hearing him reply, made my heart drop to the ground. No. No. No. Soon, all the people in my village popped into my mind. All their smiling faces.. No.

As the faces keep circulating in my head, the room begins to spin. I manage to stay grounded. I give all the adults in the room one last look before running out of the room and slamming the doors behind me. I can hear them call out as I run out, but I don't reply. Once the doors closed, I stood by the door. There stood Kakashi, looking at me with surprised eyes.

Inside, I can hear the voices of the elders telling Minato and Kushina not to go after me. I balled up my fists and continued to listen on what they were saying.

"**There was missing bodies."** Minato begins again. I can hear the pain in his voice, but his pain doesn't even match with mine. **"Bodies of Taizuya Kenji, Taizuya, Hisana and other counts of ex shinobis are missing."**

M-Mother.. F-Father.. missing? Their corpses are missing?

"**There could be a chance of them being burned to ashes, but it's too difficult to tell. The entire village has turned into dust."** Minato finishes. It feels like something has been shot through my chest, the air has become difficult for me to breathe.

"**Y-You alright?" **Kakashi reaches out to me. My eye sight becomes blurry at the sight of him and my body begins to sway. Suddenly, something in me lashes out. My body wouldn't respond to what I was thinking.

My right hand raises at Kakashi and in a blink of an eye smoke appeared behind him and, an explosion sounded. Something shot out from my hand, missing him by only a few centimetres The sturdy wall behind him, collapsed in seconds. My hand drops to my side as Kakashi stayed frozen to his place. Soon, I begin to lose consciousness. I can hear the adults from inside the room coming out in confusion, but the only thing that I could see was the fear in Kakashi's eyes. With that, everything went back.


	7. Determination

**Determination**

* * *

_**Beep. Beep. Beep.**_

What is that sound.. It's hurting my ear..

_**Beep. Beep. Beep.**_

Annoying..

Slowly, I open my eyes to see myself in an unfamiliar room. I lift up my left arm to see wires and tubes hooked up on it to a machine that continued to make the beeping noises. I lifted up my right hand, but a short pain came from it, making me drop it. I try again slowly to see my arm wrapped up with bandages. Am I at the hospital?

"**You're finally awake !"** A voices cries. I look around and stopped at the foot of the bed. It's Kushina.. **"You had us worrying there. You've been out for two days ! You're in the hospital now." **

Two days? I've slept for two days? I force myself to sit up, but I had no strength to do so so I ended up lying back down.

"**I sent Minato and Kakashi home. They've been here since you collapsed."**

Hearing the word, 'collapsed', a pain went through my head. A flashback of me almost killing Kakashi played in my mind. Is that.. The power that man.. Danzo.. spoke of? I brought my left hand to my head and groaned.

"**Don't push yourself now ! The nurse injected some medicine into you a couple of minutes ago. I guess it's finally taking effect. I'll be right back, okay? I'm going to get the doctor. Stay put !" **She instructs me with a smile. She talks .. way too much. I stayed unmoving like I was told to and not soon after she left, she and the doctor comes through the door. The doctor wore a white coat and an odd equipment around his neck.. I think father called it a stethoscope. The doctor walks to the left side of my bed and starts scribbling away at his clipboard. He puts the clipboard down and pulls a flash light out of his right chest pocket. He shines the light into my left eye, pauses to press a button above my head and continued on with my other eye. Soon, two nurses comes in pushing a small cart.

Following them from behind was Kakashi and Minato. The two and Kushina stayed back as nurses and doctor worked on me. Once they left, Minato immediately went to my side.

"**I'm so glad you're awake!"**He smiles and reaches out to touch me, but I moved away, slapping his hand in the process with my left hand. I know my actions hurt him because he pulled his hand back in shock. Even the looks on Kushina and Kakashi's face seem uncomfortable. Kushina walks over and switches places with Minato.

"**H-How do you feel?" **She cautiously asks me, but I don't answer.

"_**Bring me." **_I mouthed, trying to speak up, but I couldn't. The three looked at me in confusion. **"Bring me."** I try again and this time, it comes out in a whisper.

"**Bring me?"** Kakashi echoes me and Kushina and Minato raised their brows. The three look at me again.

"**Danzo." **I said with all my strength which in the end, my voice shook.

"**Danzo?"** The three repeats me and I nod.

"**Bring me Danzo."** I say firmly. The three exchanged looks before Kakashi left the room to look for Danzo. I rested deeper into my pillow and bed and looked out the window.

**'Chi.. Why do you want to see Danzo?"** Minato asks me, blocking my view of the window.

"**Yeah, Chizuru. Danzo is a man to not be trusted." **Kushina whispers. I ignore the two and closed my eyes. Kakashi.. come back soon. I want to get this over with.

After a couple of minutes of silence, Kakashi emerges through the door with Danzo slowly walking in. Tap. Tap. Tap. His cane went with each step he took. To my surprise, the Hokage and the two elders shows up after Danzo walks in. Without a word, everyone stood back, but Danzo. He had a smirk on his face as he got closer to me.

"**I heard you wanted to see m – " **

"**I'll become the village's weapon."** I cut him off mid sentence. **"Let me be the weapon."**

* * *

**A/N: **Quick chapter ! No worries, I'll post the next chapter as soon as possible or maybe even later tonight (:

& Thank you, **Chester Grey **for pointing out my grammar mistakes :3 I wrote the previous chapter a couple days ago and the chapter was way too long so I had to cut it in half.. I guess after I separated and saved the chapter I forgot to fix my spelling mistakes xD


	8. Chizuru's Will

**Chizuru's Will**

* * *

"**What did you say, child?" **The Hokage speaks up. I look him straight in the face.

"**I will become the weapon." **I repeat myself. While everyone stayed quiet, Danzo starts to laugh.

"**You? You be the village's weapon? Why?" **He puts his cane to my face and smirked. **"Why, child?"**

Before I could even answer, Kushina shoves his cane away.

"**Chizuru ! What are you doing?!" **She cries, trying to reason with me, but I don't reply.

"**Taizuya, Chizuru will not be Konoha's weapon." **Minato says sternly, his eyes darkened with his bangs and his arms crossed. Using my full name.. he's serious. He leans forward and grips the railing of my bed. **"She will not."**

"**Now, child. You're still too young to be thinking like this." **The old man spoke up.

"**Homura, it's her decision." **The old lady chimes in.

"**But Koharu ! We don't know her full potential yet ! What happens if we use her in battle and she fails? What would you do if a war happens because of her?" **

"**Be quiet !" **The Hokage interrupts their conversation. The two elders stops talking and collected themselves. Why can't this discussion be short? They're giving me a headache.. It's so quiet in here. I glance over at Kakashi who stood in the far back corner and I swear I saw him shake his head before hiding behind Kushina. What? Was that as in no to me being a weapon or no that I'm taking this too far?

"**Please excuse me, but she doesn't even have proper training."** Kakashi says with a bow. The adults turned to him and thought over what he had said. He's right. The only training I had was reading over some scrolls and doing small sparring sessions with father.

"**Yes, Kakashi's right." **Minato says, still trying to change Danzo's mind. **"She can't be the weapon if she doesn't even have the basic skills of an academy ninja."**

The two elders nods at his statement while the Hokage and Danzo stayed emotionless.

"**She will be part of the Foundation. I will train her."** Danzo says, tapping his cane on the ground. Foundation.. Foundation.. What is that? I looked at everyone's faces again. The Hokage had a genuine smile on his face. What is he smiling about?

"**No." **He says with his hand behind his back. **"She will join the academy. There's a class with children the same age as her. Even though they're graduates, they're perfecting the skills they've learned since their first year in the academy while they're Jonin leaders are on mission. From reading her record, I can tell she has some potential."**

"**Let's do it." **I said as I slowly got up from my bed despite being pushed down by Kushina.

"**What is your reason for becoming the weapon?"** Danzo asks, leaning down towards my face.

"**To kill a certain man."** I answer with my eyes staring intensely into his.

"**Perfect." **He hisses and leaves the room. The two elders also follow, leaving just Minato, Kushina, Kakashi and the Hokage with me. Why can't they just all leave me alone now?

* * *

**A/N:** Finally ! An update.. Liking the story so far? Please leave a review/comment belooow ~


	9. The Tunnel

**The Tunnel**

* * *

"**What will her last name be? She can't be known to the public as the only sole survivor of the Taizuya clan. Even though we don't have the confirmation that she is, but still, it'll be dangerous for her to be going on missions with a last name like that."** The Hokage says, facing both Minato and Kushina.

"**Namikaze. She will become my sister." **Minato answers with his hand in Kushina who seems to agree. Don't they know that I'm still lying here watching them? My room door slides open and there stood a woman.

"**Are you sure about that, Minato? You are the soon to be Fourth Hokage. Your last name will be very well known once you take the stand as the Hokage. If your last name is given to her, who knows what enemies will do to her or to you or even the village?"** The woman says as she walks in. Immediately after she spoke, all, but the Hokage bowed to her.

"**Biwako." **The Hokage greets her, but she waves him off. The lady had long gray hair tied back into a pony tail and wore clothes that matched with the Hokage. Who is this woman? Her icy cold eyes merely glances at me before focusing all her attention towards Minato.

"**I know."** Minato began. **"But I think it's right to do so as a tribute to Kenji-san. If anything happens, I will take full responsibility." **

I grip my bed sheets and clenched my teeth. What about my father? Why bring him up?

"**Too dangerous to risk." **The Third cuts in, agreeing with the Biwako lady. **"Why don't we use Kushina's name?" **

I look over at Kushina and she just shakes her head and places her arm around Minato.

"**Why don't we use the name of your student, here?" **Biwako says as she gives Kakashi a pat on the back. His eyes widen in shock. She kept on persuading Minato and sadly, he looks like he's about to give in.

"**Taizyuya." **I finally speak up. **"I will go by the name of Taizuya, Chizuru and nothing else.'" **

They all looked at me as if I was crazy. Maybe I am, but I went with it. The Hokage smiles and winks at me before gently pulling Biwako out of the room. Once the door closed, my eyes became heavy. A sigh comes from Minato and Kushina shakes her head before also pulling Minato out of the room. As they left, Kakashi walked over to my side.

"**What are you getting yourself into?"** He whispers, but I didn't feel like answering. I close my eyes and listened to the sound of his footsteps. Not soon after,I fell asleep.

* * *

_**Drip. Drop. Drip. Drop.**_

_The sound of watering hitting the ground made. All around me was pure darkness. Only the sound of water could be heard. I force myself to adjust to the dark, but I couldn't. Even squinting hard didn't work. Just where am I?_

_Suddenly, I hear a match being lit up. Soon, in front of me, four candles were lit up, showing the entrances of four tunnels, each has rows of candles being lit along the walls down the tunnel. I scan the four tunnels. Where do I go? I turn around to see if I can take a different path, but to my surprise, it's a dead-end. Just a plain rock wall. I turn back to the tunnels and closed my eyes with my finger extended out. While moving my finger side to side, I stop randomly and picked an entrance which was the tunnel on the far right. Compared to the other three tunnels, this tunnel seems even more creepy._

_I begin walking down the tunnel. The tunnel was quite short because in a matter of seconds, three more tunnel entrances appeared before me. I stop and randomly choose again and this time, my __finger picked the tunnel on the right side. Before I could walk through the tunnel, someone calls my name._

"_**CHIZURU !"**_

"_**CHIZURU !" **_

_The voice calls. I stop and look back._

"_**CHIZURU !"**_

"_**CHIZURU!" **_

_The voice gets louder. It was coming from the left tunnel. My body becomes rigid as the voice gets closer. This voice.. It's way too familiar._

"_**CHIZURU!"**_

_Soon, someone appears from the tunnel. A tall shadow figure. I met eyes with the person to only gasp loudly. Father.. _

_I take in the features of father as he stands before me. His appearance.. it's still the same.. He smiles tenderly down at me. His beautiful brown eyes still the start to swell up in my eyes. It really is him._

"_**Father !"**__ I croak and went to hug him. He hugs back and ruffles my hair like before._

"_**Chi, I told you to stick closer to me ! This place is easy to get lost." **He chuckles deeply and takes my hand.** "Next time, if you do get lost, remember it's right, left, left. Not, right, right, left."**__ He says with a finger pointing at me. Obediently, I nod and grip his hand tighter. His hand.. big and rough. Am I really dreaming? This all just seem so unreal._

"_**Father, you're really here, right?"**__ I say painfully as a lump begins to form in my throat. I tug at his hand, but he only has his eyes forward. __**"Father?" **_

_He doesn't respond. I shake off the feeling that he doesn't hear me and quietly went along._

"_**Chizuru, once your mother let's me train you, I know you'll surpass all the other Taizuyas here." **__He sighs and stops. He crouches down to my height and held both my hands. __**"My little girl.. You have the potential to surpass me !" **_

_I giggle at the sound of his compliment. He gives me a quick peck on the head and looks down the tunnel. I follow his gaze to see at the end of the tunnel, a bright light. Something in my stomach tells me something isn't right. I look back at father and he just pulls me into a hug._

"_**I love you." **__He whispers and hugs me tightly. I cling desperately onto him, tears flowing down my face because I know this is the end. Despite my effort, he let's go. Before I could even say I love him back, the candle fire starts to flicker and in an instant, he was no longer standing in front of me. I break down into a loud sob. I drop down to my knees and just kept crying. The pain in my throat was no match for what I was feeling in my heart. Everything shattered inside. _

_I cried and cried until I couldn't cry anymore. I picked myself up and slowly, I walk down the tunnel towards the light. I take one last look at the tunnel father was in._

"**_Goodbye, father." _**_I whisper and soon, everything turned white as I walk through the exit._


End file.
